Through the eyes of the Parasite
by G-Veronica B.O.W
Summary: The name says it all. The story about how one flood creature becomes one of the biggest threats to the covenant and humanity.
1. Chapter 1

Through the eyes of the Parasite

By G-Veronica B.O.W.

Note

This is one of my main fanfiction projects. I hope you like it, because after reading about people's suggestions I'm going to make a story of the Flood, which I hope all of you will like. Please read, review, and enjoy the story of the Flood.

Ch. 1

The spawn of evil

Location: Installation 01

The grunt moved silently through the abandoned laboratory. It kept its needler in hand with its shaking finger resting on the trigger. The whole room was so quiet. The circular shape of it, the gray colored floor and walls, which gave the room a gloomy atmosphere. There were four inclines at four points in the room; each one led up to a door, which led to another area. The center of the room was a round black hole with four consoles surrounding it at its north, south, east, and west sides.

The grunt knew each installation held its own dark secrets. Each halo they explored contained an all-powerful parasitic life form known as the Flood, the only enemy the covenant feared.

There was a quick and sudden flash of energy illuminating from the room. The grunt immediately threw his hands up in the air and dashed towards the door before he realized there was nothing to fear. He turned around and noticed a column of energy constantly flashing every three seconds. It was holding up a cube-like object in mid-air, which spun slowly in circles.

"That's odd?" The grunt said scratching his head and walking towards the column of energy.

The grunt breathed in a quick breath of methane from the tank on his back as he examined the electronic panels surrounding the pillar of energy. The grunt began to wonder if the object being held in mid-air was something that would become useful to the brutes he was still serving. He thought of the pride, the respect they'd give him, this object could possibly be a sacred icon the hierarchs were looking for. The grunt giggled to himself excitedly as he thought of the rewards the hierarchs would shower him with.

"Oh yes!" The grunt said rubbing his hands together.

The grunt examined the panel and noticed it was lined with several holographic buttons, each one of them possibly controlling the column of energy. The grunt scratched his head and tapped one of the buttons; the center of the room slowly began to spin as the outside part of the room stayed still.

"AH!" The grunt cried as the column of energy began to quicken its pace, "not good!"

The grunt held onto the panel noticing the cube-shaped object was rising higher to the ceiling. It came closer and closer to four metallic machines, which all pointed inward.

"Uh-oh," the grunt wondered if he was doing something bad, "better press something else!"

The grunt quickly hit another button and the outside of the room began spinning in the opposite direction of the center of the room. The column of energy was now constantly pushing the cube-like object up until finally it reached the ceiling and was caught by the metallic hands.

"NO!" The grunt cried hitting random buttons on the panel, "I'll be killed if anything happens to the icon!"

A hovering platform suddenly emerged from the hole the column of energy was emitting from and began floating within the column of energy. The metallic hands covered the glass-like cube with steel bars, which crossed all over the cube and lowered it onto the floating platform. The column of energy finally shut down, the room stopped spinning, and the hovering platform descended to the hole in the floor. A circular steel-like expansion emerged from the side of the platform making it big enough to seal the hole in the floor.

The grunt sighed and wiped the sweat away from his rough black forehead. He moved around the panel and began walking towards the cube dragging his feet with his arms hanging down.

"What a relief," the grunt said approaching the platform and picking up the cube, "I almost thought it would break! These forerunners sure have strange ways of doing things."

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_Foolish creature_ was what the parasite thought as it felt its container being lifted up.

The parasite was practically blind, its only sense of sight were the three barb-like tentacles, which allowed it to detect movement. It was completely unaware of what kind of being was holding its container. The parasite knew either the being had taken it for a reason, or was unaware of what kind of deadly fate awaited it.

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The grunt suddenly heard blaring loud sirens echoing throughout the room. The sirens emitted a red light, which gave the dark gray colored room a bright red. Several sentinel guards emerged from holes in the wall, which were constantly spawning the robotic creatures. The robots turned towards the grunt slowly hovering towards it.

"An enemy!" The grunt gasped throwing the cube up in the air and running for the door.

The cube landed on the ground with a loud crash and shattered sending a flurry of broken glass sprawling across the room. Quickly and quietly the parasite scuttled across the floor seeking cover from the attacking enemies. The sentinels launched straight beams of heat at the grunt as it tried launching several needles at the robot guards.

A blast of heat seared across the grunt's face spilling its blue colored blood across the floor. The grunt clutched its face and cried out in agony as another blast of heat struck its chest. The heat incinerated the grunt's armor and burnt a hole within its flesh. The grunt fell backwards as the sentinels sent one last beam of heat across the grunt's face. Quickly the sentinels retreated back into their spawn points as the parasite lashed out its barbed tentacles searching for the grunt.

The parasite searched for a few seconds making sure everything was clear. It sensed no sentinels in the room, and just barely noticed the severely injured grunt's body lying on the floor. It quickly moved across the floor lashing out its tentacles excitedly ready to take over its new host.

It leaped across the room and landed on the grunt's chest. It wasn't surprised that the creature's body was covered in armor, but suddenly realized the grunt's chest had been penetrated exposing its seared flesh.

The grunt immediately cried out in pain as the parasite burrowed its tentacles into its chest and began to take over.

"NO!" The grunt cried feeling the parasite at work, "NO!"

The grunt's cry echoed throughout the laboratory, but there was none to hear him, he was lost now, a victim of the Flood.

Location: Installation 01

Time passed: 2 hours

"I have lost all communication with that grunt," the brute said working at the communication's device on his wrist, "what could have happened to him?"

"Who knows what," another brute replied with a shrug, "maybe he got scared and fled."

Samarox and Delpha, the two of them were brothers, both surpassing the rank of honor guard brutes. They were assigned to explore Installation 01 to retrieve a sacred icon vital to the plans of the hierarchs. They were warned of the possibility of the installation being flood infested, but Samarox and Delpha were both skilled warriors having fought the Flood in many battles.

Samarox had white fur, being clean, smooth, and neat. His body armor was light being both a silver and gold color, but only covered certain places of his body such as his arms and legs. He had a much stronger resistance to weaponry than his brother did and did not use an energy shield. Two brown straps crossed his chest with plasma and fragment grenades attached. His weapons were two brute plasma rifles holstered at his hips, and a brute shot, which was strapped to the back of his belt around his waist. Samarox favored hand to hand combat, and never hesitated to beat his opponents to death with his fists.

Delpha had a light blue colored fur, both wild and mangy, but clean. He wore a black helmet, which covered his head, but came down, close to his mouth showing off his sharp dangerous fangs. His armor was red and black glowing vividly similar to an honor guard's armor, it covered most of his body and was capable of producing a powerful energy shield, which was quite rare for a brute to be equipped with. He had two deadly bloodstained blades attached to his gauntlets; both blades were similar to the bayonets found on brute shots. His weapon was a covenant carbine, which he carried with him all the time and a fuel rod cannon, which was strapped on by a belt to his back. Overall Delpha preferred heavy weapons, but used the covenant carbine whenever he was a long distance away from his opponents and his deadly wrist blades whenever he was close to an enemy.

The two brutes commanded various creatures from the drones, which patrolled the sky to the many shield-equipped jackals that were used more frequently to protect the brutes.

Samarox suddenly lifted his snout into the air and caught a foul stench; it was close and smelt similar to that of a grunt's rotting flesh. Samarox peered over at his brother who had also caught the stench and cast Samarox a strange look.

"There is something unfamiliar about it," Delpha said sniffing the air, "it smells of grunt and something else."

Samarox recognized the smell just as his brother did, and he noticed the rest of the brutes with him looked very concerned. They seemed worried, shaky, and scared. That's when it suddenly dawned on Samarox that the smell was of the Flood.

"Delpha," Samarox gasped turning to his brother.

"I know," Delpha replied placing one of his hands on his brother's shoulders, "we must dispose of the grunt quickly before our lives are put in danger."

The jackals were already activating their wrist shields and hiding behind several pillars on the balcony. The whole balcony was mounted high up in the air lined with several tall pillars, ledges, which led up to a large circular door, and various spawn points for drones.

"What shall we do leader?" One of the nearby brutes asked Samarox.

"Hide," Samarox said, "we will lure the parasite out, you strike it from behind!"

The rest of the brutes began to hide behind the pillars along with the jackals. They held their weapons tight to their chest while peering around at the corner waiting for the parasite to reveal itself.

"It's near," Delpha said readying his carbine.

Samarox smelled the stench getting closer and closer until finally the large door at the end of the balcony opened up. A rush of green fog slowly began to fill the room shading a round fleshy creature, which walked on two legs. The grunt had become a carrier for parasites, and now it was Samarox and Delpha's responsibility to kill it before the parasites could find hosts.

"Get ready brother," Samarox said drawing his brute plasma rifles, "we will make this quick!"

The carrier form stumbled out of the gas cloud, which was protecting it and began searching the area with tentacle-like whips. The features of the grunt were still visible in the carrier form. Its arms had been reduced to stubs, its legs were shaking trying to hold up the gelatinous body it could hardly support, and its head was seen cocked backwards, but nearly absorbed into the carrier form's body.

Its body jiggled with each step it took as it neared closer and closer to the ledge. It suddenly stopped with its probe-like tentacles scanning the environment. The creature's tentacles pointed directly at Samarox and Delpha and the creature took its first step off the ledge. The creature fell on its face; the impact was just strong enough to cause its fleshy body to explode. The sac tore open releasing a green gas into the room along with nine parasites.

"ATTACK!" Delpha roared pointing his finger at the various infection forms, which were dashing across the floor wildly in different directions.

Delpha and Samarox were shocked by how powerful and persistent the infectious forms were. Their presence alerted the sentinels, which quickly emerged from their holes taking aim at the various creatures suitable to become flood hosts.

Samarox began firing at the sentinels. Several red blasts of plasma struck the sentinels and knocked them out of the sky. The robots exploded upon impact with the ground injuring several jackals and brutes. Delpha took aim with his covenant carbine and took them out easily with his great accuracy. The rest of Samarox and Delpha's squad was firing their weapons as well. Blasts of plasma and grenades launched through the air repelling off of walls or tearing through the sentinels with ease.

"This is nuts brother," Delpha said, "where are the parasites?"

In the heat of the battle Samarox realized the parasites were gone. The creatures may have been quickly exterminated, or they were waiting to defeat the remaining troops after they finished off the sentinels.

Delpha was suddenly struck in the chest by a beam of heat, but quickly recovered for his shield had taken the damage.

"This is becoming ridiculous!" Samarox snarled, "take out the sentinel's spawn points!"

Their command had fallen on deaf ears. The brutes and the jackals were too preoccupied with the sentinels that Samarox and Delpha were forced to do the job themselves. Samarox began running by the left wall and Delpha the other. Samarox removed a plasma grenade from his belt and attached it to one of the spawn points, and Delpha copied.

"We must retreat!" Delpha said as a menacing shadow loomed over them from behind, "we don't have enough troops to take on these things!"

Samarox noticed the dark shadow he was caught within and turned around to face a massive sentinel, but it was equipped with shields and looked much different than the other floating sentinels.

"An enforcer!" Samarox gasped raising his weapons at the beast, "you are right brother. Even I know that you cannot defeat the enforcers from the front. We have no room to move around."

Delpha and Samarox turned back towards the sentinels. They gasped in awe; their forces had been decimated by the large amounts of sentinels.

"This is Samarox," Samarox spoke into his communicator as the enforcer prepared to fire, "evacuate immediately! We are still on the balcony. Our forces have been decimated. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!"

The enforcer launched a flurry of glowing red spikes at Samarox and Delpha, but the two brutes quickly leaped out of the way as the spikes pierced the balcony's surface. The enforcer began launching missiles at Samarox and Delpha as the two were standing up, but the two brutes began running for the door as the missiles exploded in powerful bursts of fire behind them.

There was a sudden cease-fire as Samarox and Delpha heard the sound of plasma cannons close to the edge of the balcony. They turned around to see the enforcer's body being ripped apart by the explosive power of the plasma cannons.

"Good timing," Delpha sighed as he began walking towards the phantom, "they did good."

Quickly Delpha and Samarox entered the ship, but the parasites they thought were dead began emerging from their hiding places to take over the severely injured creatures.

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_Pathetic creatures_ the parasite laughed in its mind as it gently crawled upon the body of a wounded brute.

The rest of the parasites began digging their barbed tentacles into the jackals and brutes slowly burrowing into their chests and taking over.

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**Chapter 1 completed. It took me a while, but as you can now see I am constructing new variations of the flood. Please read and review.**


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2

Takeover

**I like the Flood more than any halo species. This chapter will be entirely flood-related action, but I will include the covenant just not as much action. Please read, review, and enjoy.**

Location: outside Installation 01

Elapsed Time: 3 hours 47 minutes since parasite release

The wind blew across the surface of the balcony mournfully making a low moaning noise as it slipped between the pillars. A menacing yellow haze clouded most of the balcony carrying toxic spores, which were slowly and gradually spreading across Installation 01.

One of the brutes began to twitch, its body was horribly deformed and ripped up, but the creature occupying its body was reviving it for its own needs. The brute rolled to its right side tensing its muscles and tightening its fists as the parasite within began to learn about its new body.

The body of the brute was furless. It was hunched over protecting the tentacles emerging from its chest where the parasite was located. The brute's head was slung to the right side as a tumor-like bulge was pushing out its neck with several barbed tentacles emerging. The brute's back was just as bare as the rest of its flesh, but more swollen with bulges, which were weighing the poor creature down. The brute's arms were each lined with strong muscle, but its right forearm was swollen and split open revealing several long tentacles.

New memories began filling the mind of the parasite ranging from several varieties. The parasite's new memories were confusing such as the primitive vehicles, the weapons that were no match against the parasites, and the several unfamiliar species worthy of infestation. Each race seemed so primitive; they were nothing compared to what type of power the forerunners could harvest.

_This will have to do. _The parasite thought as it moved its arms and legs around getting used to the feel of its new body. _This…Brute…its strength is by far greater than anything I've controlled or created is. Amazing._

The parasite took its first steps quickly becoming familiar with the walking motions of the creature. The host approached the balcony looking down with its limp sagging head seeing what seemed to be a bottomless fall. The parasite suddenly sensed motion and quickly turned around. A sentinel had emerged from its spawn point and was now examining the infected brute.

_Arrogant machine!_ The parasite thought as its body remained motionless.

The sentinel suddenly fired a blue concentrated blast of heat immediately tearing away some of the rotting flesh on the brute's right shoulder. The parasite leaped into action swinging its right arm at the sentinel and smashing it to the ground. The machine landed with a loud crunch breaking off most of its outer armor. The sentinel attempted to fly again with its body broken open revealing the machinery it was composed of.

_Crush! _The parasite moaned through the brute's mouth as it smashed its left fist into the machine. The machine quickly broke apart in a small fiery explosion searing the brutes left arm and burning off its fist.

The brute retracted its hand unaware of the damage it had taken and collected the remnants of the sentinel. It obtained a more advanced sentinel beam, and quickly sprouted tentacles from the end of its wrist where its hand used to be.

_My brothers should be awakening soon. _The brute realized turning towards the corpses on the floor.

The second infected brute began to rise; its left forearm was sprouting numerous tentacles each strong and firm. Its right arm also contained a single tentacle, but its arm was deformed and twisted up in a devastating way destroying most of the bones in the Brute's arm. Its bottom jaw was missing and its eyes were pale and lifeless. The brute's skin was also furless, its chest was swollen and its legs were crooked very similar to the infected Elite's.

The second infected brute began to stand up with its head hanging forward on its chest and its arms hanging low to the floor. The infected brute looked around and suddenly noticed its hunched brother who was carrying a sentinel beam in his left hand.

_Your posture, the creatures know our weakness. Lean forward, and protect yourself! _The hunched brute spoke through a gargled sounding voice.

The other infected brute stared at its brother seemingly confused. The parasite inside slowly began to understand its brother's words and it too bent forward grateful of its veteran brother's advice. The rest of the Jackals were beginning to awaken as well, but only two of the four were actually combat forms, the other two were carrier forms.

The jackals' bodies seemed useless and weak except for the energy-shield device, which was still attached to their wrists. One of the two was missing its upper jaw, its head was hanging back and numerous barbed tentacles were emerging from it, and its back was weak due to its swollen chest pushing out on its armor. The jackal was also missing its right hand and its shield generator was now secured around one of the three tentacles emerging from its wrist and forearm. Otherwise the jackal's left arm still seemed normal except for the its middle and index finger, which had fallen off.

The second jackal host was pale and had rotting blue patches of flesh all over its body. Its back had broken and its upper torso was hanging forward as the bulge on its back was forcing it down. The host had stronger legs than its brother, its shield generator had overheated and destroyed, and each of its arms had a single solid strong tentacle dragging along the floor.

_It is amazing we were able to take control of these Kig-Yar. _The lead infected brute thought. _They won't be suitable for long._

The two infected brutes, the two jackals, and the carrier forms began to search the balcony for any suitable hosts they may have missed, unfortunately for them they had taken all the bodies that were there. The lead brute was wondering how they could get off of the balcony without going through the library. They had a much higher risk of being destroyed due to the sentinels if they entered the base.

They searched for any form of transportation available to get off of the library, but to no avail. Just as hope seemed lost the three creatures suddenly seen a flaming ship soaring directly at them.

_Brace yourselves my brothers! Make haste and hide! _The infected brute ordered waving his tentacles at the rest of his comrades.

"This is Sargent Connors!" The young man said into the communicator on his helmet, "we've entered the ring's atmosphere and escaped our attackers. Our crash is imminent, and we request a rescue squad immediately!"

"Roger that," replied a voice on the other line, "sending search and rescue squad now. Just hang tight and find a decent landing spot alright?"

Sargent Connors shut off his radio and sat down in his seat. The other six men within the pelican had buckled up and were clutching their weapons as they awaited impact.

"Sir!" Shouted one of the pilots from his seat; "we have located a large structure on the horizon. There's a small balcony we can land on, but there's some sort of yellow gas spreading across the surface."

Sargent Connors stood up and walked into the cockpit. There was a balcony just big enough for them to land on, but there was also the risk that the balcony could collapse under the weight of the ship.

"Land it," Sargent Connors said pointing his finger at the balcony, "one way or the other we'll end up on the ground whether we walk or crash."

Connors quickly dashed back to his seat and buckled himself in. The man sitting next to him was a small scrawny man clutching a cross in his hands and praying silently. Connors gritted his teeth and closed his eyes as he heard the sound of the pelican's engines whistle and the flames on the left wing roar with life.

"Impact in three, two, one," the pilot said, but was caught off as the bottom of the pelican scraped across the surface of the balcony and it spun out of control.

They felt the pelican tossing and turning knocking over large pillars and spinning around and around out of control until it smashed against something solid. There was panic among the nine men aboard as smoke filled the room, but they quickly calmed down and opened the door at the back of the pelican.

"Wait here," Sargent Connors coughed as he unbuckled himself, "who's still alive?"

Connors waited for the smoke inside the pelican to clear and seen that only two men were injured with a few scrapes and cuts on their faces.

"Sir," shouted one of the pilots as he unbuckled his seatbelt and retrieved the magnum at his holster, "I'm coming with you."

The second pilot unbuckled himself and joined the first pilot as they exited the pelican and searched the area. Connors had his battle rifle up against his shoulder and searched around the ruined facility. All the pillars had been crashed in and were now scattered around and across the pelican; the ceiling was now caving in, and the back door on the balcony had been torn open.

The first pilot checked the right side of the pelican, there was a strange green colored blood on the floor, but it seemed to trail off in another direction. The pilot knew immediately that the blood wasn't from any of their marines.

"Sir!" The pilot shouted with his gun lowered, "you might want to check this out!"

Connors turned and jogged over to the other pilot. He came around the corner of the pelican and noticed the thick puddle of green blood splashed across the floor.

"Oh shit," Connors gasped recognizing the blood, "we've gotta get out of here now."

There was a sudden series of coughs from the second pilot and the rest of the marines inside the pelicans. One of them approached the back door of the pelican and hopped out gasping for air.

"That's better," he sighed, "Sarge how can you breathe that yellow shit?"

Connors looked at the ground and noticed the several yellow spores sweeping across the surface in a thick misty cloud.

"EVERYONE ARM YOURSELVES!" Connors called as his heart began to race.

The marines within the pelican became nervous as they readied their magnum handguns, some with assault or battle rifles, and the last man who had a shotgun ready.

Sargent Connors suddenly heard two loud popping sounds coming from both ends of the balcony, but before he could react there were several cries coming from inside of the pelican. One of the men came dashing out with a parasite latched to his chest, its barbed prongs prying into him attempting to take control.

"SIR!" Cried one of the pilots as three parasites suddenly stuck to his back, "SIR HELP!"

Sargent Connors couldn't move he was struck with fear, his battle rifle was locked in his hands and he was too shocked to fire a single bullet. Never had the marine so much chaos in his life, there were two massive infected brutes striking down the marines to give the parasites a chance of infecting the humans. An infected jackal was using an energy shield attached to one of its tentacles to repel any shots fired at it from all directions.

"They're so…coordinated," Sargent Connors said to himself with a shaky voice, "they're…smart."

Sargent Connors heard a harsh ear splitting scream and turned around raising his battle rifle as his sanity took hold again. Another infected jackal had pulled the shotgun-wielding marine off his feet with tentacles emerging from both its arms. It sat on the marine's stomach as another parasite scurried to the helpless man and began burrowing into his chest.

"GET OFF OF HIM!" Sargent Connors cried with his finger pulling the trigger, "GET OFF OF HIM!"

The bursts tore off the jackal's right arm and ripped off the creature's bottom jaw. The infected jackal quickly wrapped its left tentacle around the shotgun in the marine's hand and sprung up in the air landing in front of Sargent Connors.

"DIE!" Sargent Connors cried as three bullets fired from his rifle and tore into the jackal's chest killing the parasite.

The jackal collapsed and Sargent Connors quickly kneeled down to pick up the shotgun, but upon standing up he was within the grasp of a very large infected brute.

_Puny human. _The infected creature spoke. It twisted Sargent Connor's neck with the tentacles in its left arm and threw him to the ground allowing another parasite to take over his body.

The brute looked on the mess of bodies; screams were heard from the several humans who were now being converted into Flood hosts. The brute then noticed one of its brothers; the jackal had fallen at the hands of one of the marines.

There were a total of 18 parasites, which came from both of the carrier forms, seven of which were taking control of the human bodies. Two parasites were converting the pilots into brain forms to pilot the fallen pelican, and one of the parasites had re-entered the fallen infected Jackal's body and took control.

_Eight brothers without hosts, they will survive here in the atmosphere we've created, but they are still threatened by the sentinels._ The infected brute thought concerned of its brothers.

There was a static sound from the pockets of one of the marines, a radio.

"Search and rescue squad," the voice said from the radio, "we have pinpointed your location and we are on our way. Hang tight."

The four combat forms turned towards the edge of the balcony and seen another incoming pelican, but this one was fresh, unharmed, and the several humans inside were perfect for takeover.

The infected brute commanded the rest of his brothers to hide while he defended the humans who were being infected. The pelican containing the humans was soon approaching. It backed up onto the balcony with its back door open containing several marines inside of the ship who were ready to jump out. The marines inside had no time to react as the angry infected brute dashed forward smashing into the ship full of marines.

The creature swung its left arm wildly killing two of the eight marines on board. Another marine fired his assault rifle into the brute endlessly, but was scooped up in the brute's right hand and thrown into another marine knocking the two of them out. The creature remembered the sentinel beam it had acquired earlier and fired upon the two frightened pilots burning through their heads and killing them both. The last two marines made a last ditch effort to escape the pelican, but the numerous tentacles on the infected brute's left arm wrapped around their ankles and smacked them both together knocking them out.

The parasite was pleased by its quick abilities to dispatch the eight marines and as it was dragging the bodies out of the pelican the other eight parasites quickly scuttled up to their leader excitedly.

_Use these bodies well my brothers. _The parasite said and then laughed making a deep gargled snarl with its mouth.

**FINISHED. I enjoyed writing this chapter, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. So please read and review and I'll have chapter 3 up soon.**


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3

The Birth of the Destroyer

**I apologize for taking so long to update my story. I have been thinking a lot, and I am extremely grateful for the people who have reviewed my story and added it as one of their favorites. Seriously, I'm thrilled. I've read the Halo Graphic Novel recently and the story of the White Elite sort of…inspired me and gave me a totally new look on how dangerous the flood really are. As of here on out, I will be throwing in some of my own mutant tricked out flood forms and looks. Because if you read the halo graphic novel you've noticed that there are several forms assembled from more than one organism, which is awesome! Anyway, this is chapter 3, enjoy!**

Location: Installation 01

Time: 6 hours after human host infection

_Let our disease…plague your bodies…it will soon be time…our power will be infinite_ The lead flood brute gargled through its deformed mouth releasing a green blood onto the floor.

The other flood forms had gained a massive amount of intelligence from their hosts. They were still young and pretty much born without a flood leader to guide and direct them, but nevertheless their new guide was teaching them more than any flood had known.

_Where shall we go from here…these covenant…appear to be much stronger…than the humans. _Said one of the flood-infected jackals.

There were now about 14 new human combat forms to aid the slow growing flood army. 17 of the flood variants were combat forms, two had wisely taken their leaders advice and produced two carrier forms, while the other two flood forms had each taken a pilot and merged into the controls of a pelican.

The lead-infected brute began to hunt for useful memories within its brute mind. It phased out of reality seeing several other brutes, or at the time allies to this one brute. They were aboard a ship with several other brutes, but the most significant of the brutes were the two commanding the squad who both had different colored fur and were equipped with seemingly better weaponry.

"I'd rather be back aboard the ship," said the brute next to him, "these missions boar me. Why do we have to waste our time with these meaningless tasks?"

"You said it," the words came from his host's mouth along with a grunt followed by a laugh.

"Personally I'd rather be doing ground-work like the next batch of brutes are assigned to do," the other brute spoke, "ghosts, wraiths, and other heavy weapons, all for them in case of a human attack."

The infected brute immediately snapped out of its memory finding and ran to the edge of the balcony with its brothers following close behind. It peered over the edge once again, but instead of seeing a bottomless pit there were inbound phantoms descending onto the ground and releasing other suitable flood hosts. Immediately the other combat forms were tempted to leap from the edge of the balcony having no realization that the fall would practically destroy them, for they were unable to feel pain.

_Stop now…_ Spoke the infected brute with an angry snarl, _Their numbers are greater than our own…they are covenant…they could defeat us quickly with their technology…we will have to ambush them…I have a plan._

Location: Installation 01 (outside Installation library)

"Bring it in slowly!" Shouted the brute as the phantom slowly descended with a wraith attached to the underside of the ship, "perfect…"

The wraith was released from the phantom as it landed on the ground with a loud _THUD! _The phantom flew over the wraith in a clear open area and released five grunts, three jackals, and two brutes. Several other phantoms were flying inward releasing soldiers, ghosts, wraiths, weapon containers, and steel crates filled with food for all the different species.

"Look formal people!" Shouted one of the brutes over the roar of the phantom engines as three other phantoms flew inward, "our Zealot is arriving!"

Sure enough of the three phantoms landing nearby two released a total of fifteen brutes to join the army, and the last released five grunts along with a gold armored Elite dual wielding energy swords, which were holstered at its hips. Field Commander Por Degonee looked among his small army of Brutes; they appeared powerful, and much stronger than any Sangheili, but what about their battlefield tactics? Were they smart enough to coordinate their attacks, or would they rush recklessly into battle and get themselves killed?

"This morning I received word of the fate of the previous party sent here," Por began, "it seemed the commanders made it out alive, but abandoned their troops in the process. Do not think I favor my kind over you just because the brute commanders were cowards. I have faith in you, and as long as you listen and obey my commands you will all be praised and honored by the hierarchs."

There was silence among the small army; the brutes seemed nervous and unsatisfied with their leader. Feeling angered by the commander's insulting words to their brute captains yet feeling ashamed that every word that passed his lips was true. The brutes remained motionless as field commander Por made his way across the terrain to a small post established just for him.

The other Brutes continued their duties of setting up a ground base on the ring and ignoring the bitter speech of their new commander. Throughout the day the commander walked by making sure the brutes were doing their jobs correctly and offering his assistance wherever it was needed.

"Sir," shouted a nearby Unggoy as he emerged from a phantom and approached his leader, "there is a transmission from the Prophet of Truth. He wishes to know how the mission is going and if we've completed set up of our ground base."

Por walked back to the phantom the grunt appeared from and made his way up the gravity lift. Once inside there was a large life-size holographic image of the prophet of truth right in front of him and upon seeing the prophet the Sangheili bowed.

"The mission is almost complete," Por said staring at the floor, "by next hour our mission shall be complete."

"Excellent commander," the prophet replied with a praising tone, "have you told the others about the reason the first party met their unexpected demise?"

Por sighed feeling that the prophet already knew what his reply would. He stood up staring into the eyes of his leader and replied with a silent voice,

"No…I did not tell them of the flood. I fear their quality of work may be disrupted with such disturbing information. I myself am still particularly concerned for their safety, and I do not wish to engage such a powerful foe with such a small army."

The prophet of Truth frowned and brought his hand to the beard on his chin. He stroked the hairs gently pondering a solution to the commander's dilemma.

"They will lose faith in you if you do not tell them the truth," the prophet of Truth sighed with his head bowed, "if you tell them of the threat that looms over them they will become frightened just as you said. I recommend you tell them the truth and prepare them in case the parasite does appear."

"Yes noble prophet…I will do as you command," Por said as if every word was painful to say, but gathering up a small amount of courage Por said angrily, "they will become confused and uncoordinated if they know about the parasite. These beasts will not listen to me if they are scared."

The prophet of Truth was appalled and taken back by Por's protest. The prophet leaned forward in his chair and glared into Por's eyes.

"You underestimate the abilities of these creatures just as I predicted," the prophet growled, "they are not as foolish as you think commander and in some cases they are much smarter than you. You will tell them of the parasite and you will prepare them for battle now! They will prove to be much more successful than the Sangheili have ever been against the flood."

The transmission suddenly entered leaving Por standing in an empty phantom, his fists clenched, and hatred flowing through his veins dying to send Por into a vicious rampage. However, as much as Por wanted to release his rage and fury, he was trained to control his temper just as every upper class Elite had been taught to do.

The silence was suddenly interrupted when the roar of engines could be heard overhead just outside the phantom. Por quickly departed from the phantom, and upon exiting he seen two human Pelicans crash landing into the camp taking out several command communication towers. The crash seemed almost too unfair, Por was now unable to radio in for help, but why would the humans be crazy enough to crash their own ship into a communication tower?

The brutes prepared several weapons, the grunts were frightened and wielding charged plasma pistols, which were capable of firing at a faster rate, but overheated much faster. From the two human ships came an odd yellow mist carrying spores along the wind, there was another moment of silence as the brutes prepared to fire their weapons and Por readied his blades.

"Shoot to kill!" Por ordered holding his swords with tight claws, "the parasite is among us. We do not know how many there are, but do not take them lightly."

Several dark objects came soaring in the direction of Por and his army and upon landing on the ground Por realized they were human fragment grenades. The parasites had utilized the weapons left behind by their hosts and were now using them to their advantage. The explosion weren't very harmful, the smoke resulting from the explosion hindered the army's ability to see, and before they had a chance to attack many of the brutes were being beaten and smacked by several powerful tentacles.

"Move back!" Por cried over the chaos, "get out of the smoke so we can see our enemy."

Por's fears had become reality, the brutes weren't listening, and the only creatures to obey were the grunts, but they were soon taken out for they were too slow and the parasite was much faster. Out of the smoke and debris a human combat form emerged wielding a shotgun and began dashing straight towards Por, but before it had a chance to fire its head was suddenly lobbed off its shoulder and its arms were also slashed off. The parasite within the host sprung forward tearing out of the fleshy cavity it was buried in as its old host body collapsed. It attempted to burrow into Por, but its body suddenly made a stomach turning pop as Por's shields destroyed the parasite.

A brute suddenly came dashing towards Por flailing the tentacles from its arms around attempting to smash them into Por, but the creature was standing erect revealing its chest where the parasite had burrowed into it. Por barely made any effort to kill the mindless creature first by slashing off the monster's right arm, which suddenly fell on the floor staining the ground with green blood, and then following the attack with a fatal stab to the chest tearing through the parasite infesting the brute.

Gunshots could still be heard, and Por watched helplessly, as his brutes were too frightened to attack and quickly dispatched by their foes. Such few numbers, but the parasites were unusually coordinated unlike Por's brutes, it was their first time facing such a dangerous enemy and it was unwise for the prophet of truth to make them face such a horrible foe.

Among the many parasites Por noticed another brute crouching over and beating another brute to death, but in between attacks the brute gargled out words and commanded the rest of its troops.

"Your deaths shall be avenged," Por sighed as he quickly ran from the fight, "I will not leave this ring until every one of these foes is destroyed. You have my promise…brothers."

Por quickly made his way to a phantom just as the lead infected brute noticed the Sangheili attempting to escape. He ignored the Sangheili for now and watched as several brutes were now becoming host to many more parasites, but among the bodies the leader noticed two fallen comrades; a brute, and a human host.

_Your bodies…shall not go to waste…_the lead brute snarled through its deformed mouth as several barbed tentacles emerged from its body and began to absorb the combat forms into its own body. Adjusting to its new form the leader's features were almost unrecognizable, in fact it was very hard to tell that the creature had once been a brute, but was now a hulking mass of flesh and tentacles.

_Our time has come brothers…this ring shall be ours…_

**FINALLY I AM FINISHED! Thanks for reading and I hope you like this chapter, because I thought it was interesting, and I hope you enjoyed the cliffhanger too. What will become of Por? How about the two brute captains? And this growing flood threat and its mutant leader will they reign supreme? Sorry, a little dramatic. Read and review! **


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